Yep. It definitely pays. Big bucks. In the millions. It pays , quite literally, to channel voter anger against one's opposition more than it does to seek support for one's own campaign message or rationales for why Joe and Jane Blow should give you money for your campaign.
The roster of top political fundraisers that capitalized on caricaturing and painting the opposition as quintessentially and uniquely evil to raise gobs of money for their campaigns lists BOTH Republicans and Democrats. The bipartisan list of bogeymen includes the "Deep State" for former President Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for potential Democratic challenger Rep. Colin Allred, and MAGA Republicans against Senate candidate Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).
Amazingly, Donald Trump raised a whopping $35 million from his blinkers-on MAGA zealots through his two campaign committees in the second quarter -- about double the amount he raised in the first three months of the year alone. In fact, his two indictments sparked his campaign's biggest fundraising hauls, driven by a surge of small-dollar donors expressing anger and rage toward a perception of law enforcement overreach against their messiah.
But Trump isn't the only politician capitalizing on voter rage. Democrat Schiff, a top Trump antagonist, raised an eye-popping $8.1 million for a race in which he faces, as of now, no credible competition from Republicans. Preparing for a costly primary, he capitalized on House Republicans' vote to censure him last month to turbocharge his already potent fundraising.
According to reports, Schiff raked in over 233,000 donations from all 50 states -- showcasing the breadth of liberal voter anger toward the perceived overreach of the House GOP majority. In this case to do retribution against home for the impeachment number one of Donald Trump when he was president.
Still, even candidates who aren't in Congress proved the power of a polarizing opponent as a fundraising strategy and magnet. In this light, Democratic businessman Adam Frisch, who nearly defeated Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) in 2022, raised over $2.6 million. Frisch's campaign said the imposing tally is the largest quarterly fundraising total for any non-incumbent House candidate in the year before an election , excluding special elections and self-funded campaigns .
Allred, a lower-profile lawmaker than Schiff, still raised an impressive $6.2 million as he pursues a long-shot Senate race in the red state of Texas. His scorching fundraising was fueled by the man he's running against: Ted Cruz, a polarizing conservative and rock-solid supporter of Donald Trump.
However, while mega-fundraising totals matter other things must resonate with voters for candidates to win. Big money is certainly not the be all and end all of winning at the polls. Hillary Clinton out-raised Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election race and lost. Negative political polarization -- the intense dislike of your political opposition -- is today driving politics to the point in which voters forget what their favored candidates even stands for. To be sure, that pays off in the short term, but ultimately to win competitive elections, political campaigns and candidates can't just rely on jacking up their own narrow base.
